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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Meltdown in July - Marines vs Xenos

Meltdown in Minnesota!!!!

The number of days of oppressive heat here in Minnesota early in the month I'm sure broke some kind of record, but that was nothing compared to the action going down on the 11th of July where the mighty Ultramarines and Space Wolves took on the unexpected combined xenos threat teaming savage Orks and calculating Eldar. (gasp!)

The Wrecking Crew!! Eric, Josh, and Chris

(Well, mostly Chris 'cause he's so big.)

As mentioned in an earlier post, my old college buddy Chris was back in town and looking for a big Warhammer 40k smash 'em up to kick off the newly released 6th Edition. Also, more on the game prep, terrain setup and rules, teams, and the scenario can all be found here: Big Game Prep & Decanting Spirits.

Perhaps a bit too late to be reading the rules...for the first time.

Since my first attempt to post this battle report on the 18th was lost in the Warp (See: Blogger Demons & Going Retro) I've decided to keep the writing to a minimum and include more pictures (Clicking on them makes them bigger!). Mainly because I've forgotten most of the details in what was a learning battle for me anyway. :-) It certainly was a good time and playing Space Marines made it a bit easier for me to play my first 40k battle in ages.

My backup plan for not reading the new rules...

Deployment effectively lined up Eric's Ork against Johua's Space Wolves and Chris's Eldar across from my Ultramarines (Chris's minis). Battling Chris for most of the battle was nice since I don't get to see him that often. It also means that bragging rights for crushing his Eldar last even longer... Not that we knew what we were doing or anything.

Deployment and opening moves.

The two headed Xenos horde came at the brave warriors of the Imperium hard and fast. Here I found out how forgiving Marine armor is, and good they are at shooting fragile elves in the open. The Orks on the other hand took the beat stick out on the Space Wolves early and often. Josh's saving grace was that he still had reserves to play, but would they be enough...

Josh's Wolf Lord went down early in the game and Eric's rocket launched Stormboyz were all over causing death and destruction. I took a more conservative approach to setting up fire lanes in my AO, while nothing seemed to go right for Chris's Eldar.

"You should have consulted your Farseer!!"

Chris goes "Maui Warrior" on us.

The Eldar ignore thousands of years of discipline and training and get caught up in the aggressiveness of the Orks, while apparently there was a cursed area on the table over by Josh where the dice only came up "ones."

All in a days work for the Greenskins!

The new rules do bog down a bit in close combat, but by the end of the game things were picking up. Flyers are a great addition to the game especially now that they can leave the table and come back on again. Eric's Bommer was a menace, but the pilot kept getting distracted by pretty clouds and forgetting to shoot. Oh well.

Although it took awhile, the reserves started coming in. Chris's Warp Spiders turned out to be only a flash in the pan, but the Space Wolves start making things interesting for the Orks. A lone Farseer managed to hold up an entire quad of my Ultramarines while the machine spirit in my Land Raider is in dire need of getting its targeter recalibrated.

Josh's reserves arrive while I reveal my secret weapon: a Stuka!!

Despite being a large game as well as a learning one, the new 6th Ed. rules ran pretty smoothly. They also allowed me to do fun things like land a scout squad on top a tower, and generally seem more realistic in their approach. I still have a lot to learn as my army was pretty much on auto-pilot the whole night, but I can see why all the kiddies start out with Space Marines. :-) The Imperial Guard should be tons of fun though.

The game ends in a bloody stalemate.

We ended the game at the end of turn 5, as the night had already gone on too long for a Wednesday night. At the time the Xenos were up by a couple of victory points, but it was still too close to call if the game had gone longer. Regardless it was a great way to kick off 6th Ed. and the night's action was a blast.

Welcome!

This is my lighthearted blog for all things that relate in some way to my wargaming hobby. Everything from military history to science fiction and fantasy.

I've been playing with toy soldiers since I was a wee lad and they have sparked my imagination ever since. I hope you enjoy your time on "Der Feldmarschall," and don't be afraid to leave a comment or two behind. :-)